DARPA agency has concluded a contract with IBM for $ 3.4 million for the development of Endangered programmable resources (Vanishing Programmable Resources).
Details of the project are not available, but from the brief description of the project can understand what it is about creating ICs on glass substrates which can be destroyed by heat. To do this, use a fuse tripping command is given on the radio. When this would not only deteriorate the chip, but also the sensors and the antenna.
United States reported that the theft of smartphones is growing every year. In San Francisco in 2013, the police had recorded 2400 cases of smartphones theft, which is 23% more than similar cases in 2012. Question theft can be solved at the level of handset manufacturers, which could be integrated into devices feature remote shutdown with subsequent reactivation and recovery.
So, last Friday, the senator from California proposed the adoption of a law prohibiting selling smartphones in the state without the kill switch. However, if the law is adopted, for each sold in the state of smartphone functions without kill switch operator will be forced to pay a fine of $ 2,500. Interestingly, Association of Manufacturers - CTIA is against the introduction of remote shutdown function smart phones. According to experts, hackers tool can disable communications not only civil but also military and working in the defense industry.